Mind Games (14 page)

“Look,” I said, suddenly feeling I had to know, even if I didn’t act on it, “the way we found that car – someone had to have flown it into its ditch. You and I both know someone who could do that.”

“I know a lot of people who could do that.”

“But Evan had his reasons for hating McClellan, and he claimed to be on some kind of mission to protect people.” I tried not to let my personal feelings get in the way, though they asserted themselves in the form of knots in my belly.

“So?”

“Look, I don’t care who killed David. I’m guessing whoever it is deserves a medal. But I think there’s a connection to that fire last night, the one that killed Sarah Roberts.”

Scott’s eyes narrowed. “You think whoever killed David killed Sarah?”

“That’s not what I said.”

“I can’t help you.” Scott backed away, preparing to close the door.

“Can’t or won’t?”

“Good-bye, Cassie.” He closed the door.

* * *

Madison cooked dinner that night – baked fish, salad, potatoes, and homemade bread. She still didn’t quite have the hang of baking her own bread, but each attempt got a little better. This one had risen beautifully (something her first few loaves had failed to do), but was a little bit dense.

“It’s good,” I told her.

She shook her head, sadly. “The texture is off.”

“Make sure you don’t pack your flour. You should spoon it loosely into the measuring cup.”

She nodded, as if in acceptance, but her face looked downcast. “All right.”

“Hey, you’ve come a long way since last month, when you ate everything out of a box. The fish came out great.” I smiled at her.

Madison returned the smile, shyly. “Thanks.”

“Matthew’s coming over tonight.”

She dropped her fork and her smile. “Really? When? I guess I should…”

“Not until seven and I don’t think he’s staying long.”

“Oh. Well, I guess I can go out for a walk around then.”

“If you want to.” I gave her a penetrating look, which made her squirm, probably in part because of Tuesday night’s inquisition. I hesitated to throw her more questions when I already felt bad for prying, but I did at least have to ask, “What’s going on?”

She took a deep breath. “I know Matthew’s a mind mage.”

She shouldn’t have known about Matthew. She couldn’t have known. If the Blairs knew she knew, she wouldn’t know.

“How do you know?” I asked.

“It doesn’t matter. The important thing is that I’m afraid he’s manipulating you.”

I wanted to feel angry with her, but I couldn’t quite manage it. Not with her trying to protect me.

“Would you know if he was?” Madison asked.

“Oh, I think it would be pretty obvious.” I relayed Cormack’s clumsy attempt to control me that morning.

“Cormack’s not a mind mage, though.” Madison didn’t look at me. “I mean, let’s face it, I was manipulating people for years with my singing and they never knew it. Not even you.”

I opened my mouth, then closed it, unable to deny the point. Madison had made me feel all kinds of things with her voice – happy, sad, patriotic, and even hungry. It was a subtle mind magic, but powerful for all that, largely because it was so subtle.

“If you know it’s happening,” Madison said, “it’s easier to fight. The first time I met your little brother, Adam, I had no idea what he was doing to me, but then Nicolas told me about his gift and now I don’t find myself having to do everything he says. It’s hard, but I can fight it. Most of the other teachers let him get away with anything in class.”

I suddenly remembered a run-in with a hopelessness potion I’d had a few weeks earlier, while looking for my missing cousin and her friend. It had worked with my own insecurities, turning them up a notch, making it difficult for me to admit that anything had affected my judgment. Subtlety.

“I’m not saying he’s doing anything to you,” Madison hastened to add. “I was just wondering how you’d even know.”

“I don’t know.” I stared off into space, trying to follow Madison’s logic. It’s what I did for a living, after all – solve puzzles. I could work through this as well. “Am I acting differently in any way?”

“You’re dating a sorcerer,” Madison said. “I know you made an exception for Evan, but you were in love with him. Are you in love with Matthew?”

“I don’t know.” Wasn’t that a good sign in and of itself? If he’d put some kind of love spell on me, wouldn’t I be able to answer definitely and affirmatively?

“Subtlety,” Madison said. “If you fell in love too quickly and too easily, you’d never accept it.”

I threw up my hands in frustration. “By that logic, how can I ever trust my own mind? Look, my parents haven’t warned me off of him. Shouldn’t that mean something?”

“I suppose. So why do you like him?”

I had to think about it for a minute. “Well, it’s not like I’ve made any long-term decisions about him yet.”

“No, but you are dating him.”

“Yeah.” I thought about it again, remembering what he’d told me about helping the suicidal girl at his fundraiser. “He’s a good person. Powerful, but I actually think he uses his power well, if you know what I mean.”

There was one other reason that flitted through the back of my mind, one I felt ashamed to admit. It had to do with the way he’d helped stop the gunman in Kaitlin’s Diner and the way he’d led me safely away from the mob that afternoon.

Protector. It wasn’t something I used to think I needed, but lately all evidence pointed to the contrary.

“What are you thinking?” Madison asked, her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

“Nothing.” The entire conversation was getting too uncomfortable for me. “Let’s talk about something else.”

* * *

Matthew arrived promptly at seven, shortly after Madison headed out clad in jogging shorts and tennis shoes. He wore jeans and a striped polo shirt, though on him, even jeans contained a simple sort of elegance. Madison had managed to inundate me with reservations – many of them – but they melted away upon catching sight of his somewhat weary smile.

“Would you like to sit down?” I gestured to the lime green sofa.

“I just wanted to apologize again for this afternoon,” Matthew said as he took a seat. “It was such a mess. Mob mentality is hard to deal with because the minds feed on one another in such a way that you’re no longer dealing with individuals, but rather a collective subconscious.”

“Did you do whatever you were trying to do?”

“No.” He didn’t sound at all happy about it, either. “It’s almost like someone is fighting us.”

My mind went back to Pastor Roberts’s sermon. I wasn’t sure if it was significant or if Matthew already knew, but I had an idea for him. “Mark Roberts has some charisma. I don’t know how much, but it’s not weak.”

“That could be it.” Matthew didn’t sound convinced, but he didn’t shed any more light on the subject. It was a shame. Especially after my conversation with Madison, I found myself wanting to know much more about mind magic. Not because I thought Matthew was controlling me or anything, but because knowing more might put my mind at ease.

“Are you using mind magic on me?” The words escaped before I had a chance to analyze them. Not that it would have mattered if I’d stopped to think, since Matthew could hear my thoughts.

His eyes widened in evident surprise. “Excuse me?”

I’d hurt his feelings. Great. That hadn’t been my intention. It was just all those doubts that Madison had planted in my mind.

“How, exactly, does your roommate even know about me?” Matthew asked, his voice full of anger.

I grimaced. “No idea. Surprised me, too. I swear I didn’t tell, though.”

He put an arm around my shoulders. “I didn’t mean to sound angry. I believe you.”

I leaned into him and tried to decide if I should back off or not.

“Get it out,” Matthew said. “Whatever’s bothering you, we have to talk about it.”

“Well, she just made a few good points. I mean, how would I even know if I’m being controlled?” Briefly, I laid out the arguments she’d made over dinner.

When I finished, an uncomfortable silence fell between us, and once again I feared that I’d made him angry. “Cassie, what do you think I’m forcing you to do? Go out with me?”

My face went red.

“If you don’t like me, just say so.”

“I do like you.” It was the truth. I just wasn’t sure if I trusted him.

“Trust takes time,” Matthew said. “I understand that, but Cassie, I told you the biggest secret I have. Doesn’t that mean anything?”

Of course it did, but one thing still stood in the way. “You never answered my question. Are you using mind magic on me?”

“Yes.”

It was my turn to look shocked. I peeled my head off of his shoulder and stared at him, open-mouthed.

He took my hand in his and looked deeply into my eyes. “This may be difficult for you to understand, but everyone tries to manipulate others, whether consciously or not. You smile to make others feel better, you use facial expressions to empathize, and you use words to persuade. The difference between me and everyone else is that I’ve made a lifelong study of it and I know what I’m doing at all times.”

He reached forward to run a hand through my hair, making me shudder. “I knew you liked that. That’s why I did it. I’ve smiled at you, shared truths with you, and even used tidbits I’ve gleamed from your mind to figure out what to say to you. Like right now, I sensed that telling you the truth would be better than feigning complete innocence. You’d never buy it.”

I shook my head. “No, I wouldn’t.”

His hand slid down my arm, eliciting still more response. “You like that, too, don’t you?”

I nodded. His touch made it hard to think.

“Is it magic? I don’t know. It’s subtle, like your friend said, but if you don’t like it, all you have to do is tell me to go.” He paused for emphasis. “You
can
tell me to go.”

I hesitated, not sure what to say in response to his frank and open honesty. On the one hand, he had admitted to manipulating me, but on the other hand, it was just a part of the essential him. Like he said, everyone manipulated one another. He simply did it, at all times, with full conscious intent. He knew the tricks of persuasion better than most and to top it all off, he could hear people’s thoughts. Persuasion wasn’t quite the same thing as control, though, was it?

“Persuasion isn’t quite like control,” Matthew said, agreeing with my unspoken thought. “But there are times when it’s hard to tell the difference. Over half of my colleagues in Jefferson City have at least some measure of charisma.”

“Subtlety.” I breathed the word, not sure whether to accept it or fear it.

“What if I taught you some of what I know?” Matthew asked.

I stared at him. “You would do that?”

He hesitated a fraction of a second before nodding. “The psychological tricks, not the deep secrets of the trade. That stays inside the family.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because it’s harder to fear something if you understand it.” He ran his fingers down my arm once again in an almost mesmerizing pattern. “Let me show you what I do. Let me teach you to trust me. You can even use what you learn against me.”

“I can?” I whispered.

“Oh, I encourage it.”

K
AITLIN RETURNED JUST AFTER MATTHEW LEFT,
looking pretty worn out, and headed straight for the shower. When Madison came home from her walk, she looked longingly at the closed bathroom door before plopping down on the sofa.

“How’d it go?” she asked.

“Fine.” I tried to think of something else to say, but a new tension had suddenly sprung between us. I found myself wondering if Matthew had plans to make her forget what she knew, or if she had already forgotten. Of course, I couldn’t ask. Luckily, I was, quite literally, saved by the bell.

“You expecting someone?” Madison asked.

I shook my head and went to the door, looking through the peephole to identify the caller. A young man, twenty-something at the most, stood on the porch with a clipboard, trying to look official. “Who’s there?” I asked without opening the door.

“My name is Larry Jackson. I’m here on behalf of Alexander DuPris to issue invitations to a conclave next Saturday.”

“Sounds great,” I said, not opening the door. One doesn’t invite an unknown practitioner into their home. “Thanks.”

“May I come in?” Larry asked. “I swear on my honor to respect your home and your person.”

I blinked in confusion. No one had ever made such an oath to me before and I had no idea how to take it. “Why don’t you just slide your invitation into the mail slot?”

“Mr. DuPris wants me to issue a more personal invitation, in hopes of making sure that each magical resident of Eagle Rock and the surrounding area feels welcome.”

Kaitlin came out of the shower wearing a thick purple robe and a towel wrapped around her hair, one eyebrow raised in question. “Who is it?” she mouthed.